Please Don't Go
by TheyAlwaysUseADagger
Summary: "'Don't worry about being tough anymore. I'll be tough for you and keep all the nightmares away. Maybe now they'll really be gone.' He grins. 'I'll be like a real knight in shining armor.'" Five years have passed, and Coraline still can't get the events from the Other World out of her head. Perhaps it's time that she reaches out and gets a little bit of help. Rated T to be safe.


**Hey guys! I recently watched this movie, which is super well done, and of course I've landed as a part of the Wybie x Coraline train. c: I had to write some sort of story about it, and decided that while I don't have room to do a multi-chapter one as of right now, I can write a one-shot. Maybe at some point I'll write a longer one, but for now you can just have a one-shot. Enjoy!**

 **A fair warning before we get started! I write in the first-person, so if that bothers you, turn back now. ;p Now, let's get on with it!**

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 _Coraline's Point of View_

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It's been five years since I ventured into the world of the Other Mother. Five years since she stole my parents away from me. Five years since I had to play her game to free them and the ghost children. Five years since I threw the key and her hand down the well with the help of Wybie.

I regret ever getting my _real_ mother to open that door. I regret a lot of things, if I'm being honest. I regret following that mouse once, let alone twice. I regret ever giving the Other Mother a chance to take my parents. Most of all, I regret being the reason the Other Wbie died.

I know he was never actually real. I tell myself that every day. And yet, I can't shake away the memories of all the times he was there. We didn't even interact all that much, but those times were enough. He watched the Other Mr. Bobinsky's mouse circus with me. He was silly. He listened no matter what, even if he didn't have much of a choice since he couldn't speak. He watched the Other Miss Spink's and Miss Forcible's show with me. He applauded afterwards when they pulled me in with them. He pulled me out from behind the mirror. He saved my life by shoving me through the tunnel when my Other Mother was coming. And, in the end, he died to save my life.

No matter how hard I try, I can't forget that. Should I even be trying to?

As I walk through my house, I pass by the little door. In the five years since I've been gone, I've had nightmares of it pulsing with the bright lights of the tunnel to the Other Mother's world again. It never has in reality though. This time is different. I give a start to see the faint glow seeping out from behind it and the little key sitting in the lock. I freeze, staring at it as it rattles and bangs like it did as I ran with the key that the Other Mother so desperately needed. As it continues to shake and rattle, I urge myself to move. To run away from here. To grab my parents and flee. To leave this house behind. But I find myself firmly rooted to the spot, unable to take my eyes off the door.

Then it is thrown open, and out crawls the woman I thought I would never see again. My Other Mother, the one that supposedly everyone has. The Beldam. She doesn't look like the woman I met when I first crossed over into her world. No, she looks like how I last saw her. With her skin as white as porcelain with cracks running through her face and her arms being as thin as bones, she pulls herself out of the crack, yet still I can't move. Her black button eyes seem to fasten on me as she drags herself out and rises to her full height. Even though I've grown a bit since our last encounter, she's still taller than me.

With her remaining, metallic-looking hand she strokes my chin, and even though I try to fight away, my feet refuse to listen. "Coraline, haven't you learned by now that you need to listen to your mother?"

I try to push her away, saying the same thing I told her five years ago. "You're not my mother."

"Tsk tsk." She merely shakes her head. "And here I was thinking that after five years you might have learned your lesson."

Finally my feet decide to work, and I manage to stumble back away from her. "I dropped the key in the well. How are you back?"

She laughs. "Oh, Coraline, you didn't really think that would stop me, did you? It was merely a minor inconvenience. It took a bit of work to get my hand working, but if you were trying to keep me away, you really should've abandoned it and the key in separate spots."

I try to rush for the door way, hollering, "Mom!"

Her hand, freezing to the touch, snakes around my wrist and jerks me back. "No matter how much you try to deny it, I am your mother. Why do you insist on trying to call for that other, neglectful woman?"

"Let me go!" I scream, thrashing against her as she moves her hand to wrap around my waist, locking me in place. She uses her other, handless arm to further lock me in place. "I won your game. You're cheating!"

"Not cheating. I let you and everyone else go." She says in argument, mockingly sad in tone. "I never said I'd let you go forever, did I? Besides, there's someone who I happen to know is _dying_ to see you."

"I don't want to see anyone that you have brought along." I growl, aiming to kick her ankle out from beneath her, but she simply steps out of the way.

She 'tsks' again, and uses her handless arm to lift my chin up to meet her button gaze. "Are you really sure? I think once you see them, you might beg to differ."

I shake my head furiously. "No, I promise you, I don't wa-" Before I can say anything further, she spins me around and clamps her remaining hand over my mouth, sending chills up my spine.

However, the coldness of her hand is nothing compared to the shock that courses through me when my eyes find what she's directing me towards. She has adjusted my gaze onto the door to her world again, but someone else is crawling through this time. My jaw drops and eyes widen as my protests and fighting die down. I'm too shocked at the sight to keep fighting it.

It's a boy. He's got curly, dark, brown hair and his black buttons eyes seem like they're boring into my soul. He looks older than he used to, but then again, I haven't seen him in five years. However, the smile that was always used to adorn his face is no longer there, replaced by a deep frown.

"Didn't I tell you?" The Other Mother whispers into my ear, breath linger there from being so close. "He's come so far just to see you."

"Wybie?" I ask, muffled by the hand in front of my mouth but unable to help myself.

He waves to me, but even that action seems dejected, and the Beldam interjects again. "Of course, he still can't talk. But I suppose your mindset on his talking has shifted now, hasn't it?"

My face heats up at that comment. I know what she's referring to; she means how close the _real_ Wybie and I have grown, especially since he helped me fight her hand off before to dispose of the key, or so I thought. I honestly don't know what Wybie and I are anymore. He's most definitely my best friend, and sometimes I even think that I might want him to be more. I don't know how he feels about all of that though. It doesn't help that, no matter how hard I try to deny it, I think I really did have a crush on the Wybie standing before me now. I suppose that makes things even more confusing. Do I really feel anything for Wybie, or am I just passing my feelings from the Other Wybie to him? Things have gotten unnecessarily complicated.

The Other Mother gestures for the Other Wybie to step closer with her hand, releasing my mouth. "He's been so upset since you left him to die, Coraline."

"I-I didn't mean to." I say, all intentions to fight her off forgotten due to the boy before me, which I'm sure was her plan all along. "I tried to get him to come with me!"

"But if you'd stayed, he wouldn't have needed to die. If you'd just _listened_ to me, he wouldn't have needed to experience that pain." Her tone has taken on a threatening tone, and her words sting.

I quiver and shake, close to tears. "I never meant for him to die."

"Oh dear, don't cry." The Beldam coos, patting my head. "The situation can still be rectified."

"Rectified?" I ask, hating how my voice hitches, and Wybie nods enthusiastically, his face breaking out into a large smile.

"Of course. All you have to do," She pauses, her voice so soft and soothing that I almost want to believe what she's about to say, "is come back to the Other World with me."

The way she says it makes it sound like the easiest thing in the world, but I know I can't do it. "I can't go back."

This is a trick, a trap. I know that. She just wants to lure me back in order to eat my soul. But how am I supposed to fight against her when what she says sounds so right? She knows exactly what buttons to push and I'm not putting up much of a fight when trying to fight her.

The Beldam's voice shifts in tone, sounding more and more sinister and threatening. "Do you really care so little about your friend?" Wybie frowns, and the distress all over his face is heart-wrenching. "He _loves_ you, Coraline." What way does she mean? "Don't you care about him?"

She's hitting me everywhere that it hurts, and I'm not sure how much of it I can take. "Of course I do, but he...he's not...he's not real!"

I manage to shake my way out of her grip, only for Wybie to grab my arm, looking incredibly hurt, and the Other Mother says very quietly, "He's real in the Other World, with me." I try to shake him off, to avoid looking at him, but I can't. The Other Mother continues, "Don't you want to be with him again? To do all those fun things together? You can do all of that and more with him if you just come back."

"There really is a Wybie though. This one's fake. The rea-real one, he's my friend." I shut my eyes to avoid looking at Other Wybie's face, too upset to see him sad.

"Isn't this Wybie your friend too?" The Other Mother asks, stroking one cold finger down my cheek.

"Please let me go." I manage to choke out, feeling the tears beginning to stream from my eyes.

The Other Mother just laughs, and the sound hurts my ears. "Oh, Coraline, we can't let you leave now. You need to come home."

I look back up at her as she and Wybie together beginning to jerk me towards the door. "No. No! Let me go. Let me go! Please let me go!"

"Coraline. Coraline!" I don't know how he does it, seeing as Wybie has never been able to speak, but suddenly the words come pouring from his mouth. "Coraline, wake up. Wake up! You're dreaming. Wake up!"

"I can't!" I cry, shaking as I try to jerk away from the door, but the Beldam just continues to try and shove me in.

"You can." He reaches one of his gloved hands out towards me, and I try to grab it, only for my fingers to go right through them. "Come on, wake up!"

My eyes fly open to see the forest all around me and I begin to thrash about wildly, voice shaking as I wail, "I won't go. I won't go! You can't make me. I'm not going back! Please don't make me go back!"

Wybie's voice, which feels like it comes out of nowhere, manages to bring me to a halt, "Coraline!" Before I know it, I find his arms wrapped around me and my face shoved into his shoulder. "It's okay. You w-were dreaming. I don't know how you got out here, but you were dreaming. Or nightmare-ing. But you're okay now, okay? You're safe."

I wrap my arms around his neck, crying into his shoulder and not even caring how weak I appear before him due to the absolute terror of having the nightmare again. "I was so afraid of."

We sit there in the dirt for who knows how long in silence, and then finally Wybie speaks. "So, do you want to finally tell me what this nightmare was about? You've been having it for five years now, and it's getting more and more common for me to find you out here. I've started just camping out here, and I'm lucky my grandmother hasn't caught me sneaking out yet. _You're_ lucky that I'm a light sleeper." He pauses for a moment, and then adds, "This is the third time this week that I've found you out here by the well, and there have only been three days this week."

"I'm sorry." I sniffle, pulling away, although Wybie's hands don't move from being wrapped around me. Slowly we make eye contact, and I see the concern written so evidently there. "I don't mean to make things inconvenient."

"It's okay. I-I don't mind." He gives me a small smile. "I'm assuming the nightmares have to do with the Other Mother stuff you told me about, right?"

I nod my head. "Mhm."

He nods, tilting his head like he always seems to do when he's thinking. "We-well, what happens in them?"

I hesitate, not sure if I should finally tell him what the dreams are about after having them for all these years, but decide that now it's time. He's done so much for me, and it's not fair to keep him in the dark for any longer when he obviously wants to know. "I'm walking in my house every time when I notice that the door is pulsing with the light from before the tunnel changed to be filled with cobwebs and old toys, and the key is in the lock. It bangs and pounds like it did when the Other Mother was trying to fight her way through before I locked it and threw the key down this well with your help." He nods, looking contemplative and perhaps even a little sad to hear these things. "Then the Other Mother crawls out. She tries to tell me that I need to listen to her and that she's my mother, and she tells me that she wants me to come back to her world with her. Then she tells me that there's someone who wants to see me, and, well, _you_ crawl out from the door."

"Me?" His eyes widen.

"Well, the _Other_ you." I say to be more specific. "He looks practically the same as you, with slight changes and the obvious buttons for eyes."

This time he hesitates before asking his next question, "And, uh, this me...um, w-what does he do?"

"He can't talk, so he just kind of frowns, and the Other Mother says that he's upset because I let him die to escape that world, even though he pushed me through the door and refused to come with me when I tried to save him." Wybie looks confused as he tries to comprehend it, but he nods for me to continue. "She says that I can fix him dying by coming back with her, and when I say no, she tries to say that he, uh, loves me." I shift uncomfortably, avoiding his gaze before pushing onwards. "I tell her that he's not real and tell her that I'm friends with, well, you. The real Wybie."

"And then?" He prompts, and when I look at him again, I can't figure out what he's thinking. He's closed off, hiding whatever he's feeling and thinking from me. He doesn't do that very often, and it's concerning. Should I stop?

"She tries to ask me if the Other Wybie is my friend too. I just say for her to let me go, but she says she can't because they're gonna take me home. She and the Other Wybie try to push me through the door. I keep trying to tell them to let me go, but they won't." I shake a little, remembering the fear. "At this point I'm crying because I'm so scared." Unexpectedly, Wybie gives me a comforting squeeze, but I still can't tell what he's thinking. "Then the other Wybie, he starts talking, even though he can't. He never says the same thing, but that's because he says whatever you say when you try to wake me up. Then, at some point during that, I wake up."

"That certainly is a doozy." He says finally after a few moments of silence. He's been avoiding my gaze, but now he meets it again, and his hazel eyes burn intensely as they bore into mine. "And this other Wybie, um, do you love him?"

I should've expected this question to come. "I don't know how I felt about him. He wasn't real. Why does it matter?"

He frowns in obvious frustration, looking away again. "Because you said everything in that world seemed better. Which means this, this other Wybie that you're constantly dreaming about, he's better than me. And if you love him, I'm sunk."

"Better than you?" I gape at my best friend of five years in shocks. "Wybie, he's not better than you."

"That's not what you've said about that world before." He says gloomily, eyes focused on the ground.

"I said everything _seemed_ better. It's actually all wrong." I hesitate, and then add, "And that Wybie is definitely not better. When I first met you, it felt like you weren't listening to me, so the Other Mother made it so the Other Wylie couldn't talk because that's what she thought I would want. And I guess I thought I wanted that too."

"And now?" Wybie asks, raising his eyebrows.

"You're my best friend, Wybie. Of course I don't want you to be silent." I say, frowning at the mere idea of wishing Wybie was silent.

Wybie takes a deep breath, looking away again. "You never answered how you feel about this Other Wybie though."

I shrug, feeling almost guilty for talking about him with the real Wybie. "I told you, I don't know. I don't know why you care so much. Why would you be sunk?"

"Because you loved him and thought he was better than me. How can I compete?" Wybie meets my gaze, finally fully open, and I gape at him in shock, finally realizing what he meant.

"Oh Wybie..." I say with a deep sigh, shaking my head, "I don't love the Other Wybie. I love _you_. He's not better than you. You're the one who's my best friend. Besides, you forget that the Other Wybie was made to resemble you. You came first, which means you have to be worth copying."

"Could you say that first part again?" My hazel-eyed friend asks, one side of his lip quirking upwards into the slightest smirk.

I giggle, punching him in the arm. "You heard me the first time."

We sit there in a comfortable silence, me leaning against him and staring up at the sky. Wybie never did stop holding onto me, but I don't mind. It's comforting. In fact, for one of the first times in forever, I actually feel safe.

"So..." Wybie finally says, sounding very unwilling to break the silence but doing so anyways, "I suppose we should be getting back now."

"Please no." I groan, shaking my head.

He laughs at that, "Oh, come on, Jonesy. I'll help you get back to your house, and then I'll head home to mine."

Again I shake my head, and say that pitifully, "Please don't go."

I tilt my head almost backwards to look up at him - I'll never forgive him for growing taller than me - and he tilts his head sideways. "Please don't go home?"

I nod, earning another chuckle from him. "Just stay here."

"We'll get in so much trouble if we stay here." He points out, raising his eyebrows.

I shrug, trying and failing to stifle my yawn. "I don't care."

Ever so carefully he stands up, releasing me, and I let out a huff in protest. "Come on, Jonesy, let me get you back home. You sound absolutely exhausted, as you should be."

"I don't wanna go back, Wybie." I retort, folding my arms and pouting up at him.

"You're just tired." He responds, shaking his head. "Here, gimme your hand, I'll help you up." When I make no move to take his offer of assistance, he says with a sigh, "I suppose I'll just have to carry you then."

"Carry me?" I ask, raising my eyebrows at him. I find out what he means moments later when he scoops me up bridal style, causing me to squeak in alarm. "Wyborne!"

He laughs. "Calm down. You looked too tired to walk anyways. This way I'll get you back safe and sound. No more nightmares tonight, alright?"

"Please don't go." I whisper the words again, and he takes his eyes off the path we know so well to look down at me when he answers.

"You don't want me to leave when I drop you off?" He asks, and I nod my head. "I...Well, I guess it won't hurt if I stay. I can pull up a chair or something and keep watch over you." He says the 'keep watch' part as a joke, obviously not realizing how much I wish he'd do that. "I'd have to make sure I get back before my grandmother and your parents wake up though. They'd freak out." He hesitates, then asks, "Do y-you actually want me to stay, Jonesy?"

"Please." I whisper the word again, nodding. "I don't want the nightmares to come back."

"Well then, I guess there's no more reason to argue on the matter. Don't worry about being tough anymore. I'll be tough for you and keep all the nightmares away. Maybe now they'll really be gone." He grins. "I'll be like a real knight in shining armor."

I giggle, yawning again. "You might be my knight in shining armor, but don't let it get to your head, Wybie." Realizing what my tired mind has just said, my face burns.

Despite how tired he looks, Wybie looks as if I just gave him the moon. "You telling me I'm your knight in shining armor is enough to make my head explode from how large it grows, Jonesy."

I roll my eyes and loop my arms around his neck to hold on better. The Pink Palace is super close now, but I'm honestly exhausted. Eyelids drooping, I begin to doze off even as Wybie carefully nudges the front door open.

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 **And there we have it! I know this is cheesy and over done and such, but I really wanted to write it. xD Since it's a one-shot, it's not nearly as drawn out, but I hope you liked it none the less. c: If enough people actually like it, maybe once I finish some of my other stories in other fandoms I'll put a multi-chapter one here. It'd probably have to do with Other Wybie again, maybe causing some general mischief by writing what would have happened had Other Wybie followed Coraline into the real world and stayed there - and stayed alive - upon the defeat of the Other Mother/Beldam. It could be quite interesting to cause some issues between him and the real Wybie over Coraline. :p  
**

 **Anyways, if you liked this story, please favorite it or leave a review! It will definitely let me know if I should ever venture back into this fandom, whether to write a true story or another one-shot. (And if you have a suggestion for a one-shot you'd like to see, I'd be willing to think about writing it if you wanna PM it to me or leave it in a review, although no promises about doing it.)**

 **Thank you! I'll see you around.**

 **~ Dagger**


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